Feeling the need to depend spirituality again. Be an atheist if you want - I just think you owe it to yourself to interrogate the reasons for that choice.

To the guy who suggested someone made Jesus up - of what possible benefit is it to espouse counter-culture beliefs that are likely to get you and anyone else infected by them killed for the next 300 years? No one is going to die for Harry Potter.

Think about yourself - I know, a novel concept. The vastness made up of genetics and family and lessons instilled and lessons sought and habits and feelings. Each person contains that vastness - to dismiss an individual or group as dumb because of a fraction of that they think and believe does you a disservice.

I have yet to hear a convincing evolutionary argument for altruism, or for those transcendent moments you sometimes feel when you're exposed to music, comedy or literature.

I've read The Case for Christ and The God Delusion - both contain unconvincing arguments but I don't need to dismiss them completely because of that. It is also unfair to use a 2-hour adaptation to judge what would be a 10-hour audiobook.

I am a selfish bastard, I suspect you are too. I can't conceive of a human originating concepts like John Petrie stole some of my stuff - it would be good to give him more of my stuff. Like, maybe one wife is better than several wives. Like, happy are the peacemakers. I don't know where it comes from, I just think it comes from somewhere beyond original human thought. There's a lot of unbelievable (& potentially harmful when absorbed by imperfect people) stuff in the Bible - there's also a lot with the potential to change you for the better.

It is scientifically proven that gratitude and service to others can improve your life. When Jesus was asked to boil everything down to one commandment, it was essentially to love others and love your creator (or being an AA alum, I would suggest anything higher than yourself, like nature - don't you feel awe when you see Apia's photos and want to direct it somewhere?). An authentic love for others would cause Kyle's stepdad to live his truth and not destroy multiple lives by dragging them into his lie. An authentic love for others would cause conservative Christians to question their support of Trump.

Repeating what I mentioned in a previous thread - Jesus didn't claim to be God & there are reasonable arguments against the concept of Hell being Biblical. Yes, Christians have created the straw man, but it's still a straw man.

Chemda, since you compared Jesus & Buddha, you might be interested in learning more about the Baha'i Faith which lists them both among manifestations of an unknowable God. The Baha'i were also promoting women's rights and racial unity in 19th Century Persia - unsurprisingly, thousands have been killed for these counter-culture beliefs.

I haven't reached any conclusions. I just know my life is better when I am open to the questions. I know I feel *something* when I read Rumi or The Sermon on the Mount, when I hear a Psalm or Krishna Das chanting divine names. Maybe those embers don't need to be quenched.

Repeating what I mentioned in a previous thread - Jesus didn't claim to be God & there are reasonable arguments against the concept of Hell being Biblical. Yes, Christians have created the straw man, but it's still a straw man.